Karin’s worries were, of course, unnecessary.

  With no Kage-level masters at all, how could this ragtag Kusagakure possibly handle Uzumaki Senshi as he was now?

  Upon hearing Karin’s , Senshi merely ughed:

  “Let them go bad report—it’s perfeaking the Kusagakure leaders panic.”

  “Ohose high-ups gather to discuss a pn, we round them all up in one fell swoop.

  Otherwise, Kusagakure’s political se is a voluted mess of fas.”

  “I don’t even know who its upper eembers are. If they don’t cluster together somewhere, we’ll waste time hunting them down individually.”

  That expnatio Kakuzu and Karin exging looks; her had expected that the reason Senshi hadn’t bothered to deal with the ninjas lying in ambush recisely to herd the enemy leaders into one pce.

  …

  Meanwhile, ba Kusagakure, the higher-ups were indeed on high alert. They’d previously received word that their “vital strategic asset”—Karin—had been snatched away by a shinobi from the Ame. Aly, that enemy had been brazenly funting the fact by openly keeping Karin at his side.

  That was intolerable.

  Boldly walking around with Karin as though nothing were wrong—that was clearly a gigantic sp in the face to Kusa. Even though corruption and chaned inside Kusa, they were unanimous on one point: they had to elimihe red-haired Ame ninja who had abducted Karin and recim their “critical strategic resource.”

  They couldn’t afford to provoke Konoha or Kirigakure, but surely they could hahe Amegakure, right? It wasn’t as if Hanzo the Samander was still around to make them quake in their boots. Little did they know, after Hanzo’s demise, the Ame had gone from being “merely tough” to dht “steel-walled”—not even a Kage-level ninja from the great nations could guarahey’d escape unscathed if they caused trouble there.

  Kusagakure feren.

  Vilge Chief Chiya, along with the elders and top figures from Kusa’ various fas, had all vened. Chiya g one of the vilge’s masked Anbu.

  “Repeat the intel we’ve gathered.”

  ed tightly in bahat Kusa Anbu spoke in a ral, toneless voice:

  “The group we sent to retaliate against the Amegakure and bring back Karin has been annihited.”

  “All twenty-two of our ninja are dead, including two jōnin in and. Acc to intel from our Anbu, it was the red-haired ninja who seized Karin that killed them.”

  “His name is Uzumaki Senshi, inally from the Amegakure, and i times he’s been highly active on the Ame’s bck market. Right now, this ninja is headed straight for Kusagakure, bringing his panions and Karin with him.”

  As soon as they heard this, everyone in the room was shaken. Their supposed retaliation squad—two team-leading jōnin among them—had been wiped out?

  Granted, a jōnin from a small vilge might be on the weaker side, perhaps more like elite in level in a big vilge. But from Kusa’ perspective, their own jōnin were still extremely formidable. For them to be wiped out like that wasn’t because the Kusa shinobi were that inpetent, but because the oppo was far to.

  All the top brass began talking at once:

  “Is this intel accurate?”

  “Just one Ame shinobi named Uzumaki Senshi killed our twenty-two ninja by himself?”

  “Why is he ing to Kusagakure with Karin—turning himself in?”

  “How many are with him? Who’s assisting him?”

  The meeting turned noisy. Only one individual—Mui—dressed in a dark-red cloak, remained calm. All he cared about was capturing a Tailed Beast to drain its massive chakra and unlock that damned ninja tool. Vilge matters didn’t hold muterest for him. Still, he’d heard a few rumors about Uzumaki Senshi: apparently a ninja who risked his life for money, always off on a mission or en route to one. Capturing a Tailed Beast by himself would be tough—maybe he could colborate with Senshi?

  “Silence!”

  The vilge chief, Chiya, called for order. Sweeping his gaze around the room, he waited for quiet before speaking again:

  “The Anbu’s intel is reliable. Our top priority is figuring out how to hahis enemy.”

  Kusagakure had nothing like Konoha’s “Gate Guardians,” Kamizuki Izumo and Hagaetsu, whose presence could eveer Pain from walking through the front gate. Chiya turhe question on the room. One of the vilge elders, wearing the same dark-red cloak as Mui, rose. A bd-gold horse-themed mask cealed his face. This elder was Guima, an old-timer of high status in the vilge.

  After sing the assembly, Guima spoke in a low voice:

  “If he was able to sughter two of our leading jōnin plus twenty other ninja single-handedly, his power must be extraordinary. Even in a great vilge, someone like that would be close to Kage-level.”

  Hearing that, Mui, who was seated to one side, couldn’t help but twitternally. Were these people really so clueless about the outside world? A single jōnin from any of the five great vilges could have hahat Kusa squad just as easily.

  As Mui mused on that, Chiya’s eyes shifted to him:

  “Mui, what’s your opinion?”

  Mui shrugged:

  “Find out why he’s e to Kusagakure, then decide. We don’t know his purpose yet.”

  His suggestion was instantly drowned out by other voices:

  “Nonsense! He’s already attag our vilge. Why would he want a friendly discussion?”

  “He killed twenty-two of our ninja—he must die here in Kusa!”

  “Exactly! We have to kill him, or we’ll hurt our vilge’s reputation!”

  “My subordinate, Hatta Shin’ichi, take down Uzumaki Senshi!”

  At the mention of his name, Hatta Shin’ichi—another Kusa jōnin—looked utterly baffled. Am I really that strong? Nobody told me… The meeting devolved into a jumble, but they still reached a basisensus: if this Uzumaki Senshi dared murder their people and abduct Karin, they had to ensure he never left Kusagakure alive. They’d show the Ame that it was no lohe era of Hanzo the Samander.

  Chiya promptly issued orders:

  “Hatta Shin’ichi, along with all jōnin not currently deployed, and the elite Anbu—everyone go stop the intruders!”

  “Kill Uzumaki Senshi and whichever Ame shinobi is with him. Bring Karin back!”

  At that, Hatta Shin’ichi and the other jōnin saluted and vanished.

  …

  At Kusagakure’s entrance, Uzumaki Senshi strolled right in with Karin, showing no sign of caution.

  “Let’s go to your house first—pack up whatever you want to take. Then, once we leave, we move your things back to the Amegakure.”

  Karin nodded obediently. The group of three headed to the small home she’d once shared with her mother. Immediately, Karin began colleg her meager belongings. She hadn’t lived here for a while, and it seemed other ninja had ransacked the p her absence—everything was scattered, the house turned upside down. Familiar sights in that room caused Karin’s tears to flow silently as she tidied up.

  Just then, Kusa ninja arrived outside uhe leadership of elite jōnin Hatta Shin’ichi and the Anbu Captain. Sensing them, Karin grew anxious, rushing to the window to look. She saw Senshi, arms folded, speaking casually to Kakuzu:

  “Oi, Kaku, why don’t you do something for a ge? Show a bit of effort. This is an assig for both of us—don’t just sit back the eime.”

  At Senshi’s words, Kakuzu calmly tossed three kunai in the air:

  Swish, swish, swish!

  They soared forth, instantly pierg the throats of three Kusa ninja. After pung ly through, they tore through three more behind them.

  “W-what was that…?!”

  The Kusa ninja froze in shock. Yet after a moment’s stunned silehey went on the offensive:

  “Kill them!”

  “Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet!”

  “Fire Style: Grand Fireball!”

  As they rapidly formed seals, Senshi stomped one foot on the ground:

  “Lightning Release: Earth Slide!”

  Zzzt-zzzt-zzzt!

  Streaks ht blue electricity danced wildly across the earth, araking around at high speed. In the blink of ahe Kusa ninja were vulsing on the ground in droves. Only a small handful—like Hatta Shin’ichi—evaded with a body flicker.

  “Lightning Finger!”

  Senshi raised a single finger, discharging a nce of lightning that instantly bored through Hatta Shin’ichi’s shoulder. Another flurry of beams followed, sending each Kusa “elite” crashing to the ground, twitg helplessly.

  Looking at the still-breathing Anbu Captain, Senshi said:

  “Gather all the top officials of Kusagakure ahem to e here. I have a few words for them. Of course, if they’d rather not, I always wipe out Kusagakure pletely.”

  The Anbu Captain, pale with terror, scrambled off at onot long after, every majure of Kusagakure arrived, having realized by now that these intruders were no mere jōnin.

  Vilge Chief Chiya came too, clearly amazed by how young this “kage-level” ninja was. Trying to keep his voice steady, he asked:

  “What business do you have in our vilge?”

  Senshi held up three fingers:

  “I’m here for three reasons:

  1. I want Kusagakure to punish whoever caused Karin’s mother’s death.

  2. From now on, Kusagakure is to bee a vassal of the Amegakure.

  3. Where’s Mui? I’d like to discuss a certain deal with him.”

  On hearing that, Chiya flew inte:

  “You…! That’s going too far!”

  Bleam